Cartier (and Tea for when it applies).....Today my middle daughter and I made a Colby/Jack cheese. We used a six gallon recipe with her doing a 3 gallon Jack and me doing a 3 gallon Colby.I used the recipe for both styles of cheese from Leeners.com and one thing that was very different was the addition of whipping cream to the whole milk.According to their site, the cream will make the milk more like raw milk and I have to say I was very impressed with the result.The Monterey Jack got a quart of whipping cream and the Colby got a pint. What impressed me was the curd I got by using this additon.After making my vertical cuts, I actually turned out those really long, firm looking columns of curd in both cheeses (pretty close to what Tea had in her Colby pics). There was absolutely no mushing of the curd, although they weren't as firm as I would like to have seen while in the stirring stage of the recipe.I don't know if this was a fluke, or if this might be the answer we have been looking for. Mind you, this was on only a 35 minute set, after adding the rennet.Another thing that amazed me was that I used both milk from Chester Dairy and Prairie Farms brand since I couldn't get enough of the Chester Dairy brand for this batch. As I said in another post, the Prairie Farms brand is usually a very inferior curd. This time, both curds looked exactly the same so that also makes me think the whipping cream addition was the key.Btw....the whipping cream I bought, was ultra pasteurized but it didn't seem to hurt anything. You might give it a try and see how it works out for you.

I know, I screwed up, not taking pics. In the middle of the process I told my daugter we should have documented each step so she could use the pics (with a written report) for extra credit in either her biology or chemistry class.She basically thought that was not the greatest of ideas, but anyway at least I would have had some pics to show.I'll be making a cheddar next weekend and I will be trying the cream addition when I do it. I'll definately try to snap some pics and post them.

Just as a side note from me, when adding cream I like to use pure cream, and I don't like the thought of these extra additives going into my cheese, especially when I have sourced good milk in the first place. Probably just me, but that my preference.

Cartier you are most likely right, the yield would be better with the cream addition.

I do use heavy whipping cream on my Stiltons and also did yesterday on the Colby Jack. According to all of the Stilton recipes I've seen they do recommend using homogonized milk. For some reason it does seem to help this sytle of cheese.As for piercing the cheese...On my first Stilton I did pierce right out of the mold which seemed to be a big mistake. The curd mass was not nearly solid enough for this and it caused a couple of cracks to appear down the side. On the oldest one I have curing, I will pierce it next Saturday. That will be the 4 week mark.From everything I've read you should wait until a good rind forms before doing the piercing. Each day my rind gets a little more solid feeling and I'm sure that by next weekend it will be ready.After the piercing I will let it age for a couple of weeks and then re-pierce through the same holes. This will ensure that they are still open and still allowing air to get inside. After that, I will give it another two to three weeks and then crack it open to see if the magic happened.By that time I will be ready to pierce the younger of the two and repeat the process. If these two both work out well, my next one will be 6" to 8" diameter x 8" tall (if I can find a suitable mold in this size range).Hope this helps.

Cartier....One more thing: When you pierce our stilton don't make the same mistake I did on my first one. I pierced this cheese all the way through, both from side to side and top to bottom. My thinking was that it would allow more air into the cheese but it completely jeopardized the integrity of the wheel.I've since read that Stiltons are supposed to be pierced ONLY to the center of the cheese. I use bamboo skewers to do this and plan on making a mark on the skewer so I know where halfway is (both from the top and from the side). Hopefully this will keep my cheese log from sagging like it did the first time.As I've said before, the first one was a learning experience and many lessons were gained from that attempt. Now I'm trying to perfect this cheese (although improving on the taste and texture will be hard to do).I just finished having a little of my first Stilton on some cracked peppercorn and olive oil triscuits and I still can't get over how good this cheese turned out. It was an ugly little thing but man......I just wanted to mention the piercing thing while it was fresh on my mind and before you got to that point with your Stilton.

Carter....As soon as I take it out of the mold, I smooth the log and put it in the cave. My wife found me these 4" square tupperware containers that are about 8 to 10 inches tall.I use a typical saucer...place a sushi mat on top of it and then cover the cheese with one of these containers (upside down without the lid). I also wet a paper towel and form it into a pyramid shape and lay it under the container as well.I usually have a good layer of condensation on the container although the cave humidity stays at about 47%. This tells me that the humidity under the container is much higher and the cheese seems to appreciate it.I then turn the cheese daily (always wearing sterile, powder free gloves) and keep the temp at 50 to 51 degrees F.At about the two week point you will begin to get a slight ammonia smell from the cheese, but it should be SLIGHT. If you get a smell that is over powering or a smell that sends bystanders running from the room holding their noses then you are ripening way too quickly. I heard one person say that they used their curing Stilton to keep their children from acting up.According to this lady all she had to do was say "If you don't straighten up, I"ll open my cave!" I guess this was enough to settle them right down. :-)Honestly, this cheese is not that hard to make and it really does seem to be lenient to a lot of mistakes. The main things are to ripen slowly.....keep the humidity high and allow the cheese to breathe. I honestly believe that anyone can turn out a very good product by following these simple rules.As for perfecting it.....well, that might be another story all together.